The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-20
BUILT ON A GOLD MINE.
The City Of Phoenix, Cal, Makes Dis
cOvery That Drives It Crazy.

From the Ph9nir Gazette.
The city was thrown into such a spasm of
excitement a few days since as is seldom
witnessed in any country, over the discovery
of gold in the pumpings from the artesian
well on the plaza in front of the court house.
1t happened in this wise: Samuel L. San
ders, an old resident of this place and
former placer miner of California. was at the
well being sunk for artesian water by Joseph
Drew on contract for the county, and on
looking down at the last pumpinsg it struck
him that the gravel was remarkably fine
looking pay-dirt. With the instinct of the
prospectOr strong upon him he took up Just
what sand and gravel he could hold in one
hand, and Selling a wash basin standing
near, went to the acequia, few steps dis
tant, where he panned it out When the
little dab of sand and gravel was washed to
the proper state there was about spoonful
of black sand, literally specked with gold
1t was no fool gold, but the bright, shining
ore itself, and no prOspector's ''colors, but
coarse, clean metal. There were at least q
dozen of the precious pieces, ranging from
q pin point up to a pin head in size He then
panned another handful with like success.
The sand pump being raised about that
time, portion of its contents were emptied
directly into the wash basin and taken to
more gold in this than in either of the
Others About this time the news spread,
and a crowd began to collect to verify with
their own sight the wonderful discovery.
When the reporter got on the ground the
excitement was so great that steam had to
be shut off and the machinery was at
standstill. The crowd ebbed and flowed to
and from the well and soon the news had
extended the whole length Of Washington
be fncI ha anti
of gold this pay-dirt will yield to the miners
pan varied from s. TO $50.
1t must be remembered that these esti-
mates were based upon the amount of sand
one could grasp with one hand, which
would be put a small fraction of the usual
pan. As has beeu said above this showing
did not consist of colors that one would
have to examine with glass to determine
whether it was mica or films of metal, but
good, coarse, clean gold, such as in diggings
in California would have sent people from
San Diego to Del Norte as fast as steamers,
railways and stages could have sent them
along. This discovery is at depth of forty
one feet from the surface and how far above
the bedrock no one knows. II may be one
foot and it may be twenty. These facts
show the immensely of the dis
of the vast wealth that laws
buried beneath the Salt river valley. One
foot depth of such pay-dirt under the court
house plaza represents millions of dollars.
What is the contracted space of one city
block, 300 feet square, compared with the
whole valley from the Superstition noun
tains to the CHA river, and breadth of ten
to fifteen miless That the whole valley CON
tains like material is evidenced by the fact
that wherever wells have been sunk water
is always found in a similar stratum of coarse
gravel, boulders and quicksand, showing
that the subsoil all came from a common
source. Mr.. Sanders said to a reporter that
had he fifty feet square of such auriferous
sand he would have more money than all
Phoenix is worth.
That there are billions in it there can be
no doubt. The question arises in the in
quiring mind as to its source or origin This
inquiry is answered in this wise: The Salt
river and its tributaries have eroded the
mountains on thousands of square miles,
from the western slope Of the White noun
tains down to the ella river, a distance Of
hundreds of miles All these mountains are
scanned with gold-bearing veins, which, by
the eroding power of nature, have been
broken into fragments and pulverized into
gravel and sand in their course onward TO
the sea, and that here in this great basin the
precious metal thus liberated sank towards
the bedrock, where it has lain hidden until
yesterday when, by accident, as it were, il
was brought to the light OF day again The
top of the pay-bed being so rich, what will
il be next the bedrocks
This is fruitful field for speculation. IL
as in other countries the heavier particles
have sunk down to or near the bedrock
there may reasonably be expected chispas
and nuggets far surprising any former dis
covery.
There is but one obstacle to contend with
in mining this great deposit, and That is the
water. Strong as that is it will be over
come by the ingenuity Of some grand spirit
that brooks no obstacle in the way Of pro-
gress, and the whole valley may yet be un-
dermined with myriads Of drifts until it be-
comes like gopher's burrow, only on
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